Functional magnetic resonance imaging in oncology: state of the art

In the investigation of tumors with conventional magnetic resonance imaging, both quantitative characteristics, such as size, edema, necrosis, and presence of metastases, and qualitative characteristics, such as contrast enhancement degree, are taken into consideration. However, changes in cell metabolism and tissue physiology which precede morphological changes cannot be detected by the conventional technique. The development of new magnetic resonance imaging techniques has enabled the functional assessment of the structures in order to obtain information on the different physiological processes of the tumor microenvironment, such as oxygenation levels, cellularity and vascularity. The detailed morphological study in association with the new functional imaging techniques allows for an appropriate approach to cancer patients, including the phases of diagnosis, staging, response evaluation and follow-up, with a positive impact on their quality of life and survival rate.

Magnetic resonance imaging of the chest in the evaluation of cancer patients: state of the art

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has several advantages in the evaluation of cancer patients with thoracic lesions, including involvement of the chest wall, pleura, lungs, mediastinum, esophagus and heart. It is a quite useful tool in the diagnosis, staging, surgical planning, treatment response evaluation and follow-up of these patients. In the present review, the authors contextualize the relevance of MRI in the evaluation of thoracic lesions in cancer patients. Considering that MRI is a widely available method with high contrast and spatial resolution and without the risks associated with the use of ionizing radiation, its use combined with new techniques such as cine-MRI and functional methods such as perfusion- and diffusion-weighted imaging may be useful as an alternative tool with performance comparable or complementary to conventional radiological methods such as radiography, computed tomography and PET/CT imaging in the evaluation of patients with thoracic neoplasias.

Whole-body magnetic resonance imaging in children: state of the art

Whole-body imaging in children was classically performed with radiography, positron-emission tomography, either combined or not with computed tomography, the latter with the disadvantage of exposure to ionizing radiation. Whole-body magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), in association with the recently developed metabolic and functional techniques such as diffusion-weighted imaging, has brought the advantage of a comprehensive evaluation of pediatric patients without the risks inherent to ionizing radiation usually present in other conventional imaging methods. It is a rapid and sensitive method, particularly in pediatrics, for detecting and monitoring multifocal lesions in the body as a whole. In pediatrics, it is utilized for both oncologic and non-oncologic indications such as screening and diagnosis of tumors in patients with genetic syndromes, evaluation of disease extent and staging, evaluation of therapeutic response and post-therapy follow-up, evaluation of non neoplastic diseases such as multifocal osteomyelitis, vascular malformations and syndromes affecting multiple regions of the body. The present review was aimed at describing the major indications of whole-body MRI in pediatrics added of technical considerations.

Risk of hypoglycemia in newborns from mothers with gestacional diabetes

There are not enough previous publications which are focused on mothers with well-controlled gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) as a risk factor that determines the occurrence of neonatal hypoglycemia. In addition, approaches to blood glucose monitoring have been inconsistent and poorly defined. Our objective is to determine if being a newborn from a mother with well-controlled gestational diabetes (regardless insulin treatment) have a higher risk to develop hypoglycemia than a healthy newborn, using a defined and strict protocol. The project will take place in a regional hospital of Girona. We will recruit from 2014 to 2015 a cohort of 623 infants born in this center without any malformation or any perinatal pathology or complication, selected with a consecutive sampling. We will record sex, ethnicity and gestational age information. We will measure blood glucose levels and anthropometric measurements in newborns always taking into account the presence of well-controlled maternal gestational diabetes or not. Patients will be followed up during 24 hours to determine the incidence of hypoglycemia. We will analyze the contribution between exposure factors that we have studied and the incidence of the outcome using a multivariate analysis

Understanding Flood Regime Changes in Europe: a state-of-the-art assessment

There is growing concern that flooding is becoming more frequent and severe in Europe. A better understanding of flood regime changes and their drivers is therefore needed. The paper reviews the current knowledge on flood regime changes in European rivers that has traditionally been obtained through two alternative research approaches. The first approach is the data-based detection of changes in observed flood events. Current methods are reviewed together with their challenges and opportunities. For example, observation biases, the merging of different data sources and accounting for nonlinear drivers and responses. The second approach consists of modelled scenarios of future floods. Challenges and opportunities associated with flood change scenarios are discussed such as fully accounting for uncertainties in the modelling cascade and feedbacks. To make progress in flood change research, we suggest that a synthesis of these two approaches is needed. This can be achieved by focusing on long duration records and flood-rich and flood-poor periods rather than on short duration flood trends only, by formally attributing causes of observed flood changes, by validating scenarios against observed flood regime dynamics, and by developing low-dimensional models of flood changes and feedbacks. The paper finishes with a call for a joint European flood change research network.

Human papillomavirus (HPV) in mothers before and after delivery – a three year follow-up study.

Human papillomavirus (HPV) infections in mothers are important to consider since pregnancy may affect the outcome of the infection and the mother may transmit HPV to the child. This thesis is part of the 3-year Finnish Family HPV Study on HPV infection dynamics within 329 families. The presence of maternal HPV antibodies and HPV DNA in placenta, umbilical cord blood and breast milk was examined. In addition, genital and oral HR-HPV carriage was studied among mothers with one or two pregnancies. At enrollment, seropositivity to HPV 6, 11, 16, 18 and 45 was recorded in 53 %, 21 %, 35 %, 21 % and 9 % of the mothers, respectively. Age at sexual debut, number of sexual partners, a history of genital warts and antibodies to LR/HR-HPV predicted HR/LR-HPV-seropositivity. During follow-up 27 %, 14 %, 17 %, 17 % and 7 % of the mothers seroconverted to the tested HPV-types, respectively. Decay of HPV-antibodies was rare. The mother’s new pregnancy was of minor impact in the outcome of oral and cervical HR-HPV infections. HPV-DNA was present in 4.2 % and 3.5 % of the placentas and umbilical cord blood samples, and in 4.5 % and 19.7 % of the breast milk samples collected at day 3 and month 2 postpartum, respectively. HPV-positivity in placenta/cord blood was related to a history of abnormal pap-smears or genital warts, and raised the risk of the neonate being HPV-positive at birth. The mode of delivery did not predict the HPVstatus of neonate, placenta, or cord blood. HPV DNA in breast milk was associated with oral HPV status of the father, but not with HPV status of the neonate. The results indicate that exposure to HPV is common and that part of the exposure might take place already early in life. Contrary to the common claim, pregnancy is not a risk factor for HPV.

Travelling in a Palimpsest : Finnish nineteenth-century painters' encounters with Spanish art and culture

Utgångspunkten för avhandlingen är finländska konstnärsresor till Spanien under 1800-talet, och kontakterna med spansk konst och kultur. Endast ett fåtal finländare reste till Spanien, och inledningsvis utrycktes intresset för spansk konst i form av kopior efter gamla mästare, utförda både efter original utanför Spanien, och reproduktioner. Denna föga imponerande start efterföljdes av ett litet antal målare som verkligen reste till Spanien under 1800-talets senare hälft: Adolf von Becker (1831–1909), Albert Edelfelt (1854–1905) och Venny Soldan (1863–1945). Jag undersöker hur deras syn på landet manifesterades i deras resebilder i förhållande till den växande turistindustrin. Syftet med avhandlingen är att visa hur den resande målaren, likt en turist, föreställde sig, upplevde och tolkade den främmande kulturen, och hur detta avbildades och uttrycktes i deras resebilder. Vid sidan av ikonografisk analys och stilkritik utnyttjas forskningsmetoder från turismteorin. Resultatet av undersökningen visar att de flesta konstnärerna dyrkade konsten på Prado-museet, beundrade flamenco, Andalusiens vackra kvinnor, tjurfäktningar och zigenarna. De längtade efter en förgången och exotisk tid, samtidigt som de följde de vältrampade turiststigarna och hänfördes av de sedvanliga sevärdheterna; de reste i ett delvis mytiskt och delvis verkligt land. Likt turister (i allmänhet), såg de det de ville se, och sökte sig till på förhand inpräntade mentala (före)bilder. Resebilderna kan med fog tolkas som medvetet konstruerade minnen från resan, souvenirs d’Espagne. Samtidigt förstärkte och upprätthöll valen av motiv uppfattningen att Spaniens äldre konst och samtida kultur var mer ”äkta” (autentiska) än den kultur man själv tillhörde. Spanien uppfattades som en kvarleva från en förgången tid som hölls levande i nuet

Herrn Johann Gerhard Schellers, ehemaligen Pastoris zu Hermstedt und Stobra Reise-Beschreibung nach Lappland und Bothnien : worinnen sowohl die dasige Landes-Art in deutlichen Abtheilungen und nöthigen Figuren aus eigenem Augenschein, gezeiget, als auch die Gelegenheit zur Reise und Rückreise kürtzlich angeführet wird : abermahls dem Druck übergeben von Gottlieb David Friedrich Scheller Rev. Min. Candid.

Digital reproduction, The National Library of Finland, Centre for Preservation and Digitisation, Mikkeli

Opportunities, constraints and constrained opportunities – A study on mothers’ working time patterns in 22 European countries

The aim of this study was to analyse mothers’ working time patterns across 22 European countries. The focus was on three questions: how much mothers prefer to work, how much they actually work, and to what degree their preferred and actual working times are (in)consistent with each other. The focus was on cross-national differences in mothers’ working time patterns, comparison of mothers’ working times to that of childless women and fathers, as well as on individual- and country-level factors that explain the variation between them. In the theoretical background, the departure point was an integrative theoretical approach where the assumption is that there are various kinds of explanations for the differences in mothers’ working time patterns – namely structural, cultural and institutional – , and that these factors are laid in two levels: individual- and country-levels. Data were extracted from the European Social Survey (ESS) 2010 / 2011. The results showed that mothers’ working time patterns, both preferred and actual working times, varied across European countries. Four clusters were formed to illustrate the differences. In the full-time pattern, full-time work was the most important form of work, leaving all other working time forms marginal. The full-time pattern was perceived in terms of preferred working times in Bulgaria and Portugal. In polarised pattern countries, fulltime work was also important, but it was accompanied by a large share of mothers not working at all. In the case of preferred working times, many Eastern and Southern European countries followed it whereas in terms of actual working times it included all Eastern and Southern European countries as well as Finland. The combination pattern was characterised by the importance of long part-time hours and full-time work. It was the preferred working time pattern in the Nordic countries, France, Slovenia, and Spain, but Belgium, Denmark, France, Norway, and Sweden followed it in terms of actual working times. The fourth cluster that described mothers’ working times was called the part-time pattern, and it was illustrated by the prevalence of short and long part-time work. In the case of preferred working times, it was followed in Belgium, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands and Switzerland. Besides Belgium, the part-time pattern was followed in the same countries in terms of actual working times. The consistency between preferred and actual working times was rather strong in a majority of countries. However, six countries fell under different working time patterns when preferred and actual working times were compared. Comparison of working mothers’, childless women’s, and fathers’ working times showed that differences between these groups were surprisingly small. It was only in part-time pattern countries that working mothers worked significantly shorter hours than working childless women and fathers. Results therefore revealed that when mothers’ working times are under study, an important question regarding the population examined is whether it consists of all mothers or only working mothers. Results moreover supported the use of the integrative theoretical approach when studying mothers’ working time patterns. Results indicate that mothers’ working time patterns in all countries are shaped by various opportunities and constraints, which are comprised of structural, cultural, institutional, and individual-level factors.

Waste Management in Commercial Activity: State-of-the-Art and the Potential Innovation in the Urban Areas of Hanoi, Vietnam

As the rapid development of the society as well as the lifestyle, the generation of commercial waste is getting more complicated to control. The situation of packaging waste and food waste – the main fractions of commercial waste in different countries in Europe and Asia is analyzed in order to evaluate and suggest necessary improvements for the existing waste management system in the city of Hanoi, Vietnam. From all waste generation sources of the city, a total amount of approximately 4000 tons of mixed waste is transported to the composting facility and the disposal site, which emits a huge amount of 1,6Mt of GHG emission to the environment. Recycling activity is taking place spontaneously by the informal pickers, leads to the difficulty in managing the whole system and uncertainty of the overall data. With a relative calculation, resulting in only approximately 0,17Mt CO2 equivalent emission, incinerator is suggested to be the solution of the problem with overloaded landfill and raising energy demand within the inhabitants.

Casus vulneris cum fractura olecrani et ruptura ancyloseos verae complicati; quem venia exper. fac. med. praeside Joh. Agap. Törngren, m. d. chir. [et] art. obst. professore p. [et] o. Pro gradu medico publicae submittit censurae Andreas Jacobus Hjertman, stip. publ. Obstrob. [!] In audit. med. die XXVI Octob. MDCCCXVI, h. a. & p. m. s

Dedikaatio: Carolus Mannerheim.

Mothers' experiences in the elementary school education of their children of mixed heritage /

This study explores the perceptions and experiences of middle-class women, mostly mothers, regarding the elementary school education of their children of mixed heritage. Because it endeavours to provide a forum in which the voices of women are considered a source of valuable information for educators, this study contributes to the fields of feminist and mothering research. Participants assign meanings to their lived experiences (Schon, 1983; van Manen 1997) and contemplate the various ways in which a mixed heritage mayor may not affect a child's schooling. Four main participants were interviewed who are mothers whose children of mixed heritage presently attend public elementary schools in Ontario, Canada. The study had an emergent design, thus allowing the researcher to make decisions as the study progressed. Three additional participants were included in the study to provide a wider perspective on the topic. These 3 additional women were the researcher herself as she explored her self-conceptual baggage (Kirby & McKenna. 1989); the researcher's mother in an attempt to consider the motherline (Lowinsky, 1992); and a volunteer non-mother of mixed ethnicity. The study involved a total of 12 individual interviews of approximately 2 hours in length. The 4 main participants and the researcher were each interviewed twice; the researcher's mother and the volunteer non-mother were each interviewed once. The researcher also attempted a focus group and kept a journal throughout the research process. Much of the analysis centers on women's interpretations of the mixed heritage experience and on their suggestions for elementary school educators. It concludes pondering on the invisibility (Chiong, 1998) of such children within the school system and calling for increased teacher education as a way to bring the mixed heritage experience out of the shadows.